Stranger Than Fiction
by Space Mercutio
Summary: Five dreamers. One psychiatrist. When Tails' patients begin exhibiting signs of strange, shared dreams, he and his patients unravel a mystery that could spell dire consequences for any one of them.
1. Sonic

_"Holy crap, this isn't rain, it's a flood!"_

 _"Sonic. Sonic?! Listen to me; you're going to be fine!"_

 _"No, man, no, I swear, I'm gonna drown!"_

 _"Sssh! You'll be fine, just keep moving!"_

 _"Yeah, easy for you to say! You're not the one about to die!"_

* * *

Sonic awoke crying tears of panic, but he had no idea why. He extracted himself from the tangled covers, stretched, and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

He looked over to the other side of the room, noting Manic, Antoine, and Rotor all safe (and completely zonked out). _Well, I'll let them be. Meanwhile, I've got a job to do._

Sonic rubbed his eyes to dry them, and threw on some clothes, not really caring much. Moving into the only other room in the apartment, he took the apartment key out of his pocket and unlocked the door to go out.

It was October 14th, so it was a fairly chilly morning. Sonic shivered and rubbed his arms, but it really didn't do much. Locking the door firmly behind him, he smiled, having forgotten the effects last night's dream already—though the events of it were still fresh in his mind. He unchained his bike from the house and began to cycle over to the paper vendor's office.

Sonic's job was a newspaper boy, although his main concern was taking care of his 'family'—his brother Manic, and his two friends, Rotor and Antoine. Rotor and Antoine had been kicked out of their parents' respective homes, and as a friend, Sonic gladly took them in.

Rotor had been born to a very strict religious family, and his friendship with Sonic had left a sour taste in his mouth. To be honest, the things he risked just going to school being a lower-class teenager almost forced him into the position he was in. His grades had dropped because of a constant fear of being jumped, and to make a long story short, he'd ended up at the local YMCA, struggling to find a job with almost nothing but the clothes on his back.

As for Antoine, his parents—or rather, one dad—was a serious alcoholic, and frankly didn't care where Antoine himself was as long as there was beer around. Thankfully, this hadn't rubbed off on Antoine.

It was nice to have more people in the family, since Sonic's parents had died in a plane crash many years ago. Nice, yes, but also dangerous. Sonic and his friends weren't exactly well off, and each of them had to work very hard to keep their house, and keep from staying hungry. Aside from that, there were the higher-class kids who really seemed to enjoy jumping them whenever they felt like it, without warning.

But right now, Sonic felt the wind in his quills, and more importantly, felt free. He didn't have anything to worry about. It'd be a round of newspapers, hopefully a tip or three, and later on a date with Amy, his girlfriend.

* * *

Sonic arrived home after his date to find a significant lack of Antoine. "Hey, is Antoine on groceries today?" he asked Rotor, the only other one home. (Manic was just coming home from school—Sonic had dropped out to fully support the 'family,' but had insisted that one of them have a complete education.)

Rotor looked up from his own newspaper. He was easily the biggest of the group, but also had one of the biggest hearts. "Yeah, but now that you mention it, he _has_ taken his sweet time getting home. Think we should see what's taking him?"

"I dunno. Let's wait, and see what happens," Sonic said.

What ended up happening was an empty bottle hitting the doorknob. Loudly.

Sonic rushed to the door, while Rotor looked ready to bean someone with…his newspaper. In the doorway stood Manic, looking harried and breathing hard.

Manic was definitely the youngest, but only by a year. Also the loudest in the group, he was quick-witted, but often had his head in the clouds.

"Cripes, man, do you think you could _knock_?" Sonic asked. Then, seeing Manic in the state he was in, he said: "What's the deal?"

"It's Antoine. He's busy being… _pant_ …jumped."

"Well, geez, what did you come all the way here for?"

"There were _a lot_ of 'em, and we're close. Come on, just hurry up!" Manic shouted, running back the way he'd come. Sonic looked at Rotor, then ran out the door.

Once there, they found Antoine at the end of an alleyway, surrounded by at least four other kids with not-so-nice looks on their faces.

"Come on, dudes. Have some class," Sonic complained, punching one of the more surprised-looking ones in the face. Jumping right into the fight was Manic, Rotor beside him. This comforted Sonic, who showed his gratitude by kicking his charge in the knees.

"Filthy greaser!" the kid fighting Manic said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Sonic heard Rotor say as he downed his respective punk. "You and your limited vocabulary can go stuff it!"

Sonic moved to fight the one who still had Antoine cornered, but Antoine warned: " _Non_ , _non_ , this one has a blade!" Antoine, though not always the bravest, still had his head on straight in this fight, trying to wrestle the blade out of the hands of his opponent.

"Pssh. I don't care," Sonic muttered, kicking Antoine's guy in the side. In retribution, a guy behind him punched him in the back of the head, but he didn't suffer any more damage. Sonic turned, saw Antoine with the blade, and smiled smugly at the retreating socialites. They'd grabbed their buddy, the one Rotor knocked flat, and were already running for their car.

Rotor was already straightening Antoine's shirt, or the tatters he'd been lucky to get away with. "Dude, try to be a little faster about groceries next time," Sonic quipped. "And buy yourself some napkins or something, you've got produce juice all over ya."

* * *

In the commotion, it was lucky Sonic didn't forget his psychiatrist appointment. After having one too many weird dreams the past few weeks, Manic had convinced him to head on over there, and finding him interesting, the local psych had persuaded him to keep coming.

 _Although frankly I think he's just glad to get a customer,_ Sonic thought. The psychiatrist, a Miles Prower, M.D., was in competition with another, more well-established psych in the next town over, but Miles' rates were cheaper. Miles—or Tails, as he preferred to be called—was still young, and Sonic suspected he just needed the money. Meanwhile, his friends were comforted by the fact that Sonic was getting checkups.

"Give it to me straight, doc," Sonic smirked as he walked into the office. "Am I gonna die?"

Tails looked up confusedly. "What do you mean? You're not going to—"

"It was a joke, doc. A joke."

"Right. Of course." Tails cleared his throat. "Let's get down to it. Have you had any dreams lately?"

"Nightly. Last night's was the weirdest by far." Sonic ran a hand through his quills.

"Alright, let's start with that one. What happened? Just close your eyes and try to concentrate."

Sonic tried to remember as best he could. "Let's see…"

 _There was a strange-looking forest. Maybe a rainforest? The rain pouring down made the idea seem very reasonable._

 _Also, there was something chasing him. He knew that for sure._

 _Then he felt the water around his ankles, like some sick, strange, unholy mouth. "Holy crap," he remembered saying to someone, but didn't know who. "This isn't rain, it's a flood!" He was scared out of his mind. The water kept getting higher._

 _"Sonic. Sonic?!" he remembered someone replying. "Listen to me; you're going to be fine!"_

 _"No, man, no, I swear, I'm gonna drown!" That was when he'd started crying._

* * *

Hours later, after Sonic had gone, Miles Prower, M.D., swiveled his chair over to his filing cabinet. "This Amy Rose and Sonic are together, huh? I wonder if she has any light to shed on these dreams of his," he murmured to himself.

Little did he know, even she couldn't piece the puzzle completely together.


	2. Amy

_Ack, why is my mind wandering again? Must be those weird dreams I've been having. Anyway, no time to space out; I've got a job to do._

Amy Rose tried to stop wobbling on her skates. The manager would never forgive her if she made a fool of herself. "I'm sorry, could you repeat your order, sir?"

Amy worked as a carhop at Burgertopia, the local burger joint. Right now, though, her weird dreams were giving her a hard time, and she didn't like the look on her customer's face. His sunglasses lowered and he repeated his order slowly and condescendingly: "Just. Fries."

She resisted the urge to throw up her hands, roll her eyes, and say, "Fine. Whatever." Instead, she smiled, nodded, and skated in the opposite direction as fast as she could. Anything to get away from that customer.

"I need one bag of fries, thanks in advance," she said to the cook at the window of the joint. While the cook went to prepare her fries, the substitute cook filled in the empty space. His name was Silver, and not only was he Amy's coworker, he was also a good friend of hers.

"Hey, Amy, what's up? You look annoyed," Silver said.

"No reason, just the butt-ugly customer I'm dealing with. My mind's been off-track for a while now, and I don't know why."

"Been having weird dreams?" Silver joked.

"Huh? …No, not at all. Why?" Amy asked, not really sure why she was lying. Well, no reason for him to suggest she take a day off. She had a date with Sonic coming up, and she felt like treating him.

Silver shook his head. "Just something Blaze has been talking about lately." Blaze was Silver's pen pal, whom he talked about often.

"Yeah, well, I'll tell you if I end up with those," Amy laughed, while the cook came back.

* * *

 _Maybe I should have just invited him over to my house_ , Amy thought. _What if he doesn't like the movie?_

Their fancy dinner reservations had gone out the window somehow—she'd checked and double-checked them, how it went wrong she had no clue—and so, Amy had taken Sonic to a movie. Good thing he was flexible. If anything, he'd relaxed when she told him about the plan change. Even so, a movie and popcorn seemed a little insincere to her, and she hoped he didn't think of it that way.

Sonic gently wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "You look tense. Chill out, stop worrying," he smiled. "I hear it gives you wrinkles."

Feeling comforted, Amy leaned back in her chair. There were very few people in the theater at the moment, so she felt safe talking just above a whisper. "Like you would know," she teased.

Sonic looked mock-offended. "For shame, Ames! I am, as you know, the utmost expert on wrinkles, being the top skin doctor in my profession—"

Amy snorted. "Yeah, just hearing you talk about it makes my skin crawl." They both cracked up while the actor on the screen ran from a haunted chainsaw.

* * *

Miles Prower, M.D., was very hopeful about his second patient that week. "Amy, great to see you again."

"Am I glad to be here!" she smiled. "Rough day at work, stuff like that."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Tails said. "Rough how?"

"Nothing terribly unusual. I spaced out for a second and all of a sudden there's another customer who thinks I'm a dope. Speaking of which, that's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"About dope?"

"No, my dreams." Tails didn't see how that related, but he let her continue: "My dreams are distracting me, Mr. Prower."

"Tails," he corrected.

"Right. Tails, sorry."

"What kind of dreams are these dreams?" Tails asked, not wanting to give away his suspicions about them prematurely.

"Well, it's like this…"

 _"What is this place, anyway?" Amy asked Sonic, who shrugged._

 _"No idea. All I know is, that looks like a very comfortable and conveniently-placed rock, and my legs need a rest." Sonic laughed and led her over to the aforementioned rock, where they took a seat._

 _The atmosphere was…well, if the 'real world' was tinted normally, this world had a nice tinge of orange and purple. The sun was setting, or at least that's how it looked. Regardless of whether she was sleeping or not, it was a nice place to talk to Sonic._

 _"So…is this real?" Amy asked._

 _"It's real to me if it's real to you," Sonic replied casually. "Personally, I wouldn't mind being faster than the speed of sound either, but having a date is next on my list."_

 _"Gee, what a charmer. I'm second-best on your list," Amy said. There was a short pause, a break in the jokes. Sonic could tell something else was coming._

 _"What's the matter?"_

 _Looking back, it was a dream, so it was a little weird to say what she said. "Actually, I was going to ask about you," she said._

 _"About me? What about me?"_

 _"You were a lot of fun on our date, but after it was over, you just seemed relieved," Amy said, sounding a little hurt. Well, she couldn't deny it._

 _"Oh, that," Sonic said. "It wasn't you, if that's what you thought. 'Twan got jumped the other day, and—that_ was _when you dropped me off, right?" Amy nodded, so he continued: "I was just glad to see all my friends safe."_

 _Suddenly, her boyfriend's eyes widened. "Ames," he warned, "you're going to want to start running, as fast as you can."_

* * *

After Amy left that evening, Tails pulled out a small memo pad. Jotting down the date—10/15/68, he wrote beside it a reminder to check out this mystery.

Tails was convinced that Amy and Sonic were sharing dreams, regardless of what Amy might think about it. Telling either of them would be breaking patient confidentiality, but it was so fascinating that he had to tell someone…

…and these dreams were so weird that he was almost worried someone was going to get hurt.


	3. Blaze

" _It hasn't been that long since my last letter, but I've been really busy this week and I felt it deserved its own letter_ ," Blaze said, reading over her letter one more time. "It doesn't seem that formal," she muttered to herself.

Deciding that her message was alright, she put her pen down, folded the letter in half, and put it in an envelope. The entire composition read as such:

 _"Dear Silver,_

 _It hasn't been that long since my last letter, but I've been really busy this week and I felt it deserved its own letter. First of all, I wanted to know this. Have you been having any weird dreams lately? Maybe it was just what I ate, but these past few nights I've been having the strangest dreams, and you seem to be in all of them. I wouldn't call them nightmares, but there's a healthy amount of grim and dark in there._

 _My grades have been keeping me stressed, and my med degree seems awfully far away. But enough bad news._

 _You say Amy's staying in the county after graduating? Maybe someday, if I come visit, you'll introduce me. I'm running out of space, so I'll have to end it here. Respond soon."_

Blaze had already talked with someone about her dreams; Tails, to be precise. Her parents had recommended him over the phone—"It doesn't matter how cheap he is; we don't have to take a road trip for this one."

At least the psychiatrist had been nice. In fact, he was probably the most informal person with an M.D. that she knew of. The session had been about an hour, but it felt more like lunch with a friend.

As for Silver, he'd been her acquaintance for quite some time. They'd met mostly by accident, in some botched, stange sort of interstate foreign exchange program at Silver's school. Initially, Blaze had been selected to go, but due to financial circumstances that neither party got an explanation for, she wasn't able to go. Meanwhile, Silver had somehow found out the name and address of Blaze via 'accidental' glances at the teacher's faxes. Sending a letter to her, the teachers at both schools had supported this pen pal relationship, and they'd been sending letters for the last ten years.

Glancing up at the clock, Blaze stretched. It was nearly time for dinner; she'd planned to go to a restaurant with a friend. The completed letter lay on her desk, unsent.

* * *

As Blaze quickly learned, stupid dreams and friendly visits didn't go so well. Especially considering the amount of sleep she'd gotten the other night, which was next to none.

The friend in question was a senior, like herself. He was a youthful and unassuming type, called Blake, a newt with a penchant for saxophones. Normally Blaze was tolerant enough when he went on one of his tangents, but she found it harder and harder to keep up with where he was going as the visit drew on. Her eyelids began to have a mind of their own.

The meeting dragged on quite long, and Blaze felt inwardly sorry for not having the energy for keeping up a conversation. She could tell he was getting bored, and finally she stood and said simply, "Let's do this again sometime."

Blake nodded enthusiastically. He'd had a little more fun than she'd thought. _Good_.

And then she checked her watch. 7:45.

For the love of—

* * *

Since she got her driver's license, Blaze had been able to drive wherever she wanted, but her (rather strict) parents had always set a curfew of 8 PM. Unfortunately for her, the trip back was going to take twenty minutes—five minutes that she didn't have.

So, her arrival home was not a happy one. Once they'd gone over the initial formalities: "Sit down, _young lady_ "—she'd prepared for whatever punishment it might be.

"I have _tried_ to give you freedoms with your steps towards adulthood," her father started. He looked at Blaze's mother for confirmation. "Have I not?"

Both Blaze and her mother nodded. Her father continued: "But with those freedoms come a certain responsibility. Such as being home on time."

"Five minutes," she muttered, and instantly regretted it.

He took a menacing step forward. "Excuse me, young lady? Would you care to repeat that?"

"I'm sorry," Blaze said quickly, afraid.

"You'd better be," he said gruffly. "Like I was _saying_ , one of these responsibilities is being home on time. And when you choose to enjoy a privilege and ignore the responsibility, there have to be consequences. Like taking your car away. But we won't take your car away," he finished.

Briefly, Blaze seemed hopeful, but her father was still angry. "Instead, we've decided to take away your privilege to send letters to that pen pal of yours. So, well…" he said, somehow scathingly, "I found this letter, unsent, on your desk."

Blaze looked hurt as her father gripped the letter she had written between his hands, slowly ripping it apart. "I guess it'll have to stay unsent. And so will your next letter. And the next one. For…I don't know…about a month?"

* * *

On the surface, people who didn't know Blaze's relationship with Silver all that well might just shrug and say, "Oh, well. No contact? Not so bad." But Blaze and Silver had been in contact since they were fourth-graders, and one could say they'd developed quite the friendship. They told each other everything—things that their friends didn't know, and things their families didn't know, even their parents. And knowing Silver, he was going to be hurt, badly, by this—something Blaze didn't want to do to him.

Alone in her room after the lecture, Blaze could hear her parents' voices, although she wanted to just sleep. "All that for being five minutes late?" her mother was saying.

"You always take her side," her father sighed. "Anyway, weren't you the one who set the curfew?"

"Yes, and I think we discussed reasonable punishments, too." Blaze felt a small shred of hope, but it was quickly stifled. Her father had been stubborn for a long time, and that wasn't going to change now. She supposed she'd have to get what sleep she could.


	4. Silver

Silver woke up at 8:00 AM and frowned. His alarm hadn't gone off. Luckily, he could avoid being late, because he only overslept by about five minutes.

He became aware of a bad feeling. Maybe he'd had a bad dream. Maybe he shouldn't get up out of bed after all. Call in sick.

Silver just brushed it off and got his Burgertopia uniform on.

* * *

Business was fast today, so Silver had been taking a lot of orders. He was about to get a small break, as Amy, his manager, had just clocked in and was taking orders as a carhop, while Silver's coworker was getting ready to prepare the order. The customer was giving Amy a hard time, hence the break.

Eventually, the customer's order was placed, and Silver's coworker went to go prepare one bag of fries.

"What's up, Amy? You look annoyed," Silver said.

"No reason, just the butt-ugly customer I've been dealing with," Amy spat. "My mind's been off-track for a while, and I don't know why."

"Been having weird dreams?" Silver grinned.

"Huh? ...No, not at all, why?"

"Just something Blaze has been talking about lately."

"Yeah, well, I'll tell you if I end up with those."

Silver chuckled, moving out of the way of his coworker. Amy took the bag of fries from the coworker, and skated away. Silver reclined against the wall, waiting for the next customer.

Actually, Silver's question about dreams hadn't been totally in jest. And it wasn't just Blaze that had been having them. He'd been having them, too.

Blaze was Silver's pen pal of eight years. They were closer than family, so everything Blaze said Silver took very seriously. Blaze had mentioned having weird dreams, and as soon as Silver began to have them as well, he'd made a point to write her about it. He just hadn't gotten around to it. He was going to wait until she took her turn, though. It was, after all, her turn to send a letter. So he would wait.

* * *

Silver returned home once work was over. It was a little late in the day-5 in the afternoon-so Silver decided to relax in his bedroom.

He happened to glance over at his writing desk. There were no letters from Blaze. Now that he thought about it, it had been a little longer than usual since he had received a letter from her. He remembered that bad feeling he'd felt in the morning. It was back.

 _What am I thinking? She's probably getting around to it real soon._

Silver fell asleep within the next few hours.

It had been another week. Silver was getting a little concerned. Okay, a lot concerned. It was a Friday night, and he was busy being concerned. He realized it was a little ridiculous.

Unfortunately, he had occupied most of his day being concerned. He'd sleep for now, and try to enjoy his Saturday.

Almost instantly, he dreamt.

He hadn't remembered any of his prior dreams, but undoubtedly, he would remember this one.

He was ankle-deep in tall grass and weeds. A meadow. The air was, somehow, tinged with purple. The forest before him was a dark blue-green. It seemed calmly menacing. Or menacingly calm. One of those things.

And in front of him, staring him in the face, was Blaze. He recognized her from a few pictures he'd seen over the years. She was probably the same way.

They were both surprised. They both stepped back.

"Blaze, what are you doing here?" Silver asked. He suddenly realized he was perfectly conscious of everything in his dream-he didn't feel like he would forget it when he woke up. It felt like real life. "Why are you in my dream...thing?"

"Why are you asking me why I'm in your dream in my dream?" Blaze asked.

They both took a moment to be confused. Then another.

"Uh...I'm glad to see you, I guess," Silver smiled.

"Me, too…" Blaze said. They were definitely still confused.

"Well, while you're here...should we catch up, assuming we're sharing a dream?"

"I guess. What did you have in mind?"

"I don't know if there's a polite way to ask this, but I guess if this is a dream…"

"Go ahead."

"...why haven't I gotten any letters lately?"

Blaze grimaced. "I'm really sorry about that. Let me explain. See, you know how my parents are, right?"

"Yeah, absolutely."

"They love me and all-" Blaze noticed Silver rolling his eyes, and ignored it-"but I happened to come home late a few nights ago, and they stopped me from sending letters to you for the next month."

"That's awful!" Silver said. "I oughta-"

"You _oughta_ wait a month. Please don't make a big deal of it. It's just a month."

"You don't mean that," Silver said.

"I don't. I'm sorry, I really wish I could send you something, but my father's been checking every piece of mail that goes in or out. I can't get anything past him."

"And your mother?"

"You know her. Non-confrontational to a fault."

"I wish your dad took after her," Silver muttered.

"Yeah, well. How long do we have in here? Do you feel awake?"

"I've been feeling awake this whole time, so I guess that doesn't mean much. You wanna hear about Burgertopia?"

"Not so much," Blaze laughed. "Actually, since we don't really know how long we have here...why don't we explore?"

"Sure, why not?" Silver shrugged. "Maybe we'll run into someone else we know."

They didn't, even though the forest seemed to go on forever.

Silver couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched, or followed. He was pretty sure Blaze felt it, too; she kept looking over her shoulder. Nothing jumped out at them.

* * *

He woke up. Already he knew he had forgotten something important. Something _had_ jumped out at them, but he couldn't remember what. There was a huge gap in his memory.

He was sweating, hard. His heart was still going. But it was 8:15, and he was about to be late for work.


	5. Filling the Gap

The same night Silver and Blaze had their own private reunion, Amy was just confused.

"...I was going to ask about you," she said. The two were perched on a large rock, just outside of the forest. An orange sun dropped in a pink sky, right behind them, but the forest didn't get any brighter. It was unusually dark, in fact, like a gun in a toy box.

"About me?" Sonic asked, looking surprised.

 _Someone-no, something-else was here. It could smell her. Neither of them knew it._

"You were a lot of fun on our date, but…"

 _It moved closer. The taller blades of grass were threatening to give it away, and it was making an uncharacteristic amount of noise. Their conversation continued anyway._

"I was just glad to see my friends safe," Sonic explained. "It wasn't anything you did." He laughed lightly.

Thump. _It had focused too much on its targets, and bumped nose-first into a rock. Panicked, it knew it was now or never-it could tell the one in blue knew of its presence now._

"Ames, you're going to want to start running as fast as you can," he said shakily, stepping protectively in front of her and pushing her.

 _It struck. The something reared its ugly head and leapt straight at Sonic._

"It" was a shaggy, black beast. It looked like a dog, but about twice as big as the biggest Doberman. The fur around its snout hung in a crimson mane. Yellowed ivory fangs stretched wide open to take Sonic to his death.

Adrenaline coursed through Sonic. He intuitively knew that if he died here, he wouldn't wake up. This wasn't a regular dream.

He turned and ran. There was a crack. The beast howled, but Sonic was so far away he couldn't even see it.

As a matter of fact, Sonic didn't recognize where he was. "How'd I get here so fast…?" He thought back to earlier, before he'd been jumped….

 _That's right! I said, "Personally, I wouldn't mind being faster than the speed of sound," and now I'm here! Does this forest grant wishes?_

"Well, in that case," Sonic thought out loud, "I could really use a million dollars...to go," he said. "I gotta find Amy."

He began to run in what he thought was the direction he'd come. There was another crack. "Holy eggheads," he muttered, "I'm breaking the sound barrier!" There was not, however, any money. _Then how long have I been able to do this? And where the heck is Ames?_

* * *

It was sometime before 8:15, sometime before Silver would wake up and forget that this ever happened. He was, quite honestly, having the time of his life.

"I just wish we could be like this in real life…" Silver enthused.

"Who's to say this isn't real life?" Blaze countered. "I mean, who's to say we're not stuck here, together, forever?"

"I wouldn't like that very much," he said, but smiled at the thought anyway.

"It's better than living light-years across from each other."

Silver had to agree.

Blaze wasn't without her doubts. Silver was definitely out of his element; he looked a little scared, and so was she. But a world without her father was a pretty good one so far.

There was a pause. Silver couldn't think of anything to say. Blaze was content to look around.

Silver's breathing quickened. Blaze looked up at the sky.

Silver's eyes began to glow a nice green color. Blaze continued to look up at the sky. A moon hung at exactly midnight. It hadn't moved since they'd gotten there.

Silver began breathing quickly _and_ loudly. Blaze began to turn around.

Then, of course, the visions started.

"Silver? What's wrong?" Blaze asked, panicky. Silver went pale.

Blaze swore inwardly. _I'm just a med student! Is he having a seizure? I'm not qualified to help him if that's what's happening!_

Then, she kicked herself inwardly. _Blaze, green glowing eyes are not symptoms of a seizure! Something else is happening here!_

Before she could do anything, Silver's eyes stopped glowing. His breathing didn't slow, but he looked around and seemed more himself.

"Blaze!" he said in recognition, grabbing her shoulders. "Where am I?"

"Silver, you haven't moved. What's going on?"

"I...I don't know! It was like I was Amy for a second, but I wasn't, and then there was the thing-the monster-"

"Okay, okay, slow down. Stay with me," Blaze said, doing a carefully learned, hopefully relaxing voice. "Exactly what happened? What did you see?"

"You know Amy? My manager?" Silver said, practically gasping for breath. Blaze nodded, and he continued. "She and Sonic - her boyfriend - they're being attacked!"

"Where? At her house?"

"No! _Here!_ We're not the only ones here, and there's something stalking them! Who knows what's after us!"

"Alright," Blaze said protectively. "Alright, okay. Nothing has attacked us yet. Can you describe where they were?"

"They were outside of this forest."

"So it follows that to stay away from this...monster, we'll have to go deeper into the forest, right?"

Silver gulped. "Yeah…"

Something tickled Blaze's leg. She yanked it upwards, turning to look at it. It was just a fern.

Instantly, like the fern was sentient, it stretched toward Silver, wrapping itself around his leg, as more ferns gathered around. They entangled both Blaze and Silver before they had time to make a sound.

Blaze panicked, trying to squirm out of the grip of the vegetation. Almost instantly, there was the smell of something burning. The plant life shrunk away from her like a kicked puppy.

Something crackled. She looked down. Blackened plants now littered her feet.

Also, her paw was on fire.

It was time to make a kale salad. Or, at least, that's what Sonic would have said.

* * *

Blaze burnt the plants off of Silver without harming him. Aside from his left foot. But he was right-footed anyway.

They ran for a long time. The plants rarely stopped chasing them. Both of them were out of their minds with exhaustion. Both considered sleeping as soon as they got to safety, except they were already dreaming.

Finally, Blaze spotted a bright spot in the forest. They were almost out and to safety. With any luck, the only threat outside of it was whatever was chasing Sonic and Amy. The only thing in their way was a crop of rocks with a stream through it. Without looking back, Blaze ran and vaulted it, clearing the other side. Silver had been a second behind her. Where was he?

Silver had been caught just before making the jump. _Crap._

With a masterful flick of the wrist, a ball of flame shot right at the plants and scorched the ground right behind Silver, burning the plants at the root. With a grateful expression, Silver clambered over the rocks and out of the forest.

Blaze woke up, saying "Thank you," to her ceiling and instantly forgetting why. Halfway across the States, Sonic and Amy did the same, having narrowly escaped whatever beast was chasing them.

It was 8:15. Silver was going to be late for work.


	6. Shadow

_...and morning coffee. Check._

Shadow walked through the crowded firm with confidence like a mountain in a hurricane. Dozens of secretaries rushed in front of and behind him, chasing loose flyaway papers. He paid them no mind.

His own secretary was just ahead of him, detailing his agenda for the day. "We have two cases that nobody wants to take. One murder and one mugging."

"That's all? I'm defending a murderer and a mugger?"

"Both suspects. It's not proven."

"Then it's easy."

Shadow was known nationwide as one of the sharpest minds in the country, with an eye for tough cases. Countless times he'd come through to defend the undefendable-no matter whether they were innocent or not. They would always give him money, and money was what mattered. People said he could defend John Wilkes Booth if he could pay.

"When do I meet with the client?" Shadow asked.

"Murder case is today, mugging tomorrow."

"I'll handle it," he said simply.

* * *

The murder suspect in question, Shadow knew, had done it. He kept licking his lips, his pupils kept dilating, and he was scratching his nose like there was no tomorrow. Not to mention, everything in the perp's story disagreed with him. But Shadow was confident this wouldn't be a hard case.

"Are you listening to me?" the suspect asked suddenly.

"Of course," Shadow replied. His eyelids must have been drooping.

It had started a few days ago, on October 14. Shadow had always adhered to a strict sleep schedule, preferring a schedule without variables. He went to bed at 10 and woke at 5. He had always done things this way, and had done things this way even since October 14.

But every day after the night of October 14, Shadow would wake up feeling as though he hadn't slept at all.

It was starting to affect his work, too. Others may not have seen it, but he could feel his normally razor-sharp wit dulling. He was having trouble thinking on his feet.

It had troubled him long enough.

* * *

The meeting with his client had taken a few hours. Of course, he had to know what his client had said to anyone about all this, and then build an airtight case around it. But Shadow was certain he could get this client out scot-free. After all, he was getting paid to do it.

Now, he had a brief trip to make. Telling his secretary "I'll be out," he made his way down to the smallest psychiatrist's office he'd ever seen. He couldn't risk any of his many legal enemies seeing him in anything less than his prime shape, so a small-time office seemed the best place to be checked out.

The door had some tacky little bells hanging from it. Actually, the whole office was pretty tacky. He was starting to think a more prestigious office was a good idea.

Unfortunately, the psychiatrist had seen him already. "Sit down, please," Miles Prower, M.D., said.

Shadow did as he was told, unbuttoning his suit jacket. "I can take that for you," Miles said.

"Thank you," Shadow said simply.

"So what seems to be the problem?" Tails said curiously. "Depression? Suspected OCD? Or...strange dreams?"

"Actually, no dreams at all," Shadow said. "And from the way it feels, no _sleep_ either."

"Explain," Tails said, sitting back down and looking carefully at him.

"I get seven hours of sleep every night. But since the night of October 14, it feels like I haven't gotten any. Does that make sense?"

"If you weren't getting any sleep since the fourteenth, then you'd be dead," Tails mused.

"Exactly. So how is any of this possible?"

"Coffee doesn't work?"

"No."

"Tried any medicines?"

"I haven't told my doctor."

"Then why come to me?"

"I'm a very important man, okay? I have complicated reasons."

"And I'm getting money for every half hour you sit here. Please, I have the time to be enlightened."

* * *

 _What a secretive guy. He wouldn't tell me anything,_ Tails thought. He'd only been able to keep Shadow in the chair for about an hour, before giving up and telling him to see a doctor.

 _I guess I shouldn't complain. He_ did _pay me fairly generously._

Besides, Tails had other things to work on.

Taking out his files on Amy and Sonic, he read over them again. Then, he furrowed his brow, and took out his file on Blaze as well.

 _All three of these patients have reported weird dreams, and with Amy and Sonic sharing dreams...what are the chances that Blaze is sharing some? But who would she share them with?_

Amy was sharing her dreams with her boyfriend. Had Blaze mentioned anyone that close to her? Maybe _one_ person...

" _Amy, describe to me your daily schedule." Tails had said during their session._

" _I work early mornings at Burgertopia. My shift manager is a friend of mine, Silver." Amy had replied._

" _I have a pen pal in Pennsylvania named Silver," Blaze had told him._

* * *

Silver's home was quiet. His father had just turned off the T.V. in the family room, and was headed to bed with his wife. Silver was also already in bed - Dad tried not to make too much noise going up the stairs.

A quiet, subdued noise, like a broom on a floor far away, reached Dad's ears. What was that?

Finishing his ascent to the second floor, he peered down the hallway. There was a light in Silver's room; he could see it creeping out the crack in his door. It was green. Dad, being old and tired, shrugged it off. "I can't blame the kid for being restless, given his age." Silver was a teenager, and Dad could remember being a teenager. _Good times_.

Inside, where Dad couldn't see, a greenish-blue smoke leaked out from Silver's eyes and mouth.

* * *

Elsewhere that morning, Shadow woke up with a bitter taste in his mouth, breathing heavily. His jaws were clenched, as if he'd tried to bite someone's head off.


	7. Saturday, October 19

The forest was populated tonight, again.

Sonic, Amy, Blaze, and Silver stood in a clump in the clearing where Sonic and Amy had been attacked. The question on everyone's mind was:

"How are you here, burger guy?" Sonic asked, staring at Silver and Blaze.

"How are _you_ here?" Silver echoed. "Wait, Burger Guy?"

"I mean, it's not too much of a stretch," Amy reasoned. "If Sonic's my boyfriend, and Silver's my coworker…"

All eyes turned to Blaze. "Then who are you?" Sonic asked.

"Blaze," Silver and Blaze both answered. Amy seemed to recognize the name, but Sonic just got more confused.

"My pen pal," Silver clarified.

"So we all know each other, somehow…" Amy mused.

A green tendril of smoke began to leak out of Silver's mouth. Sonic was the first to notice. "Hey, Burger King? What's up?"

Blaze and Amy stared as Silver's eyes rolled back in his head and green smoke began to coil out of every orifice. Silver began to speak in hasty stutters: "Forest - creature - shadow -"

"Silver? What's going on?" Blaze asked, panicked.

Sonic's eyes lit up. "Is he talking about the monster that attacked us the other night?"

"Us? I don't know what you're talking about!" Blaze said hysterically.

"Holy Big Macs…" Silver mumbled, pale. "He's coming."

"Are you gonna tell us, or do we have to guess?" Sonic said, unable to prevent his nervousness from showing.

Silver, incidentally, didn't have to say anything. Amy, nearly as pale as Silver now, pointed. "It's that thing...from the other night…"

It growled. They scattered.

* * *

7:27 AM, Saturday, October 19. No new dreams.

"Two quarter-pounders and some fries!" someone shouted. Amy rested her chin in her palms. As usual, nothing was going on. As usual, her dreams were more interesting than reality.

Although, maybe they weren't interesting so much as they were concerning. Amy kept on waking up feeling like those dreams had been real. Exhausted, she'd dragged herself out of bed and into work…only to nearly fall asleep on the job.

Oh, well. The morning shift was never interesting.

"Hey! I said two quarter-pounders, too!" the someone continued.

"Sorry, I'll get right on it - " Silver's apologetic voice replied, but was cut off. A puff echoed from within the kitchen. Amy's ears twitched.

The reflection from the window glass in front of her was a faint green. With a bad feeling, she turned around. Small tendrils of green smoke billowed out from under the doors.

"Silver?" she called, walking carefully up to the kitchen doors and pushing them open. The room inside was lined with thick green smoke. The manager was just plain confused, shaking Silver by the shoulders.

"I can't tell if they're going to live!" Silver exclaimed, panicked. Like in Amy's dream, his pupils were nowhere to be seen. Silver was sweating.

With a deep breath, however, the smoke suddenly swept itself from the area into Silver's nostrils. His eyes went back to normal. He looked panicked, but for a different reason this time.

"What...happened?" Silver asked, eyes wide. "Oh, no. Oh, crap." Without another word, he darted from the kitchen, out the restaurant doors, and down the street.

* * *

"Silver! What on earth happened back there?" Amy demanded that night, in the dream world (although whether this was still a dream was definitely up for grabs at this point).

"I...got a prophecy," Silver explained to the group. "In the middle of work. I'm definitely fired."

"Spit it out," Amy said. "You looked horrified."

"Well…" Silver stammered. "One of us is going to have a terrible accident. And I can't remember who."

No one spoke for a minute. "Are we gonna live?" Sonic asked, breaking the silence.

"No idea."

* * *

9:30 AM, Saturday, October 19. No new dreams.

That morning, Sonic checked the refrigerator. "Nope, we're out of juice. Hey, has anyone seen Antoine?"

Manic and Rotor shook their heads. "Not since he went out to get more bread," Manic answered.

"Darn. I should have sent him to get juice too."

"You shouldn't have sent him out at all, if you ask me," Rotor said. "Too dangerous. Antoine's an easy target."

"I guess."

Someone knocked on the door. "Looks like he's back, though," Manic inferred.

Antoine was red in the face, breathing heavy, and sweating. "Sonic! Those _méchants_ from a few days ago jumped me again!"

"You don't look any worse for wear," Manic observed. "You kick their %!^es?"

"Er, well, no," Antoine mumbled. "They're asking...for ze rumble, _si vous plait_."

"A rumble? At this time 'a day?" Manic snorted. "They must be outta their minds."

" _Non,_ tonight!" Antoine corrected.

"Well, this _is_ the second time in a row they've jumped Twan," Sonic said. "We might as well show them who's boss. Knives?"

"They said fair fight. No weapons."

"Can we trust them?"

"Beats me."

"If we bring knives," Rotor said, "they'll have guns. It's best to not take anything."

* * *

3:30 PM, Saturday, October 19. No new dreams.

The invitation to the skating rink had been unexpected, but pleasant. As much as Blaze hated cold, skating was something different. It was less about the temperature and more about the feeling of gliding on your feet. Fun.

A sullen-faced skater passed her as she entered the rink. He hadn't rented his skates yet, and was headed for his locker. At least, that was Blaze's assumption.

* * *

6:43 PM, Saturday, October 19. No new dreams.

Silver was cold. He was trying to not be cold. He was also trying to find Sonic. He wasn't able to find Sonic.

He figured that if he could at least make it to someone he knew before his prophecy came true, he could help at least a little bit. And if it turned out to be Silver himself, he would at least be around someone he knew.

The problem was, since he'd run out of the kitchen, he'd put a lot of distance between himself and Amy. He knew Sonic was around here somewhere, but exactly where was a complete mystery.

* * *

7:02 PM, Saturday, October 19.

Someone pulled out a knife.


	8. The Rumble

Earlier. Saturday, October 19.

Everyone was acutely aware of their own mortality.

* * *

There had been a date with Sonic on the table, scheduled for today, until Silver's prophecy. Amy understood why the date was no longer on the table, but it was still disappointing. She sighed, chin propped up on her hand. She had called off work for this, but now nothing was happening. To say she was bored would have been an understatement.

She stood up from the kitchen table. The chair squeaked a little - was she putting on weight? - No, it was just old. She had something to attend to - the future.

There's a few things they don't tell you when you're a teenager. Like, what the future is like. Although, maybe it's more that they _can't_ tell you. Like trying to explain color to a blind man, maybe it's just really hard to articulate. Amy's future, in any case, was college. At least, that's what she assumed.

A few colleges had sent her letters already; they looked interesting. But they were far away, too far from her home. And far too expensive! Her parents weren't rich, after all!

Her parents were rich. The colleges, in fact, were all in-state. Amy wondered briefly why she denied these facts.

* * *

"I think it's time we talked about college," Amy's dad said at dinner. _This is the fourth time,_ Amy observed mentally.

Instead, she nodded in agreement.

"Now, your idea is to be a teacher?" her father asked. They had already gone over this. To say she and her parents were a bit out of touch would have been accurate.

She nodded in agreement.

"How about...Florida?" her father suggested. This was new.

She nodded in agreement, then cancelled the nod. She was confused. "Florida? Wait, what's in Florida?"

"A fine teaching school," Amy's mother offered.

"Tuition is no problem," Amy's father said as Amy opened her mouth to protest.

"And you can come visit every now and then," Amy's mother added. Suddenly, Amy realized that she didn't want to be close to home just to visit her parents. Well, it would be nice, but that wasn't the reason…

"How about a community college?" Amy insinuated. "Could be nice. Low tuition, not very far...you can go on vacation this summer _and_ next summer."

"Amy, why not Florida?" her mother asked. "It's much better than a community college. Not that a community college is _bad_ , but…"

"Florida's nice, too," her dad said. Amy was getting agitated.

"But if I go to Florida, I can't - " and then Amy realized exactly why she didn't want to go to Florida.

Unfortunately, her parents caught on fast. "Oh, Sonic? He'll be fine here," her mother answered. There was no verifiable proof that Sonic would be fine. Amy also knew that they didn't really like Sonic all that much, either. This was what worried Amy.

"You don't even like him," she muttered.

"Amy, come on. It's not that he's much lower class, but he's just…" Amy's father trailed off.

"Wild," Amy's mother came to his rescue.

"Careless?"

"Careless."

"Dad. I love him. Does that matter?"

"It's not that it doesn't matter, it's just…"

"You not liking him takes priority?" Amy raised an eyebrow.

"Right. No, er…"

The phone rang, and Amy's mother got up to answer it.

Meanwhile, Amy fumed. "It's not like I'm going for a med degree. I'd be going to Florida for teaching, and then I'd probably end up coming right back here."

Her father sighed and put his head in his hands. "You didn't used to be this difficult."

Amy glared, stung. "You didn't used to be this rude."

The meeting was interrupted when Amy's mother lowered the phone onto the receiver. "Dear? What's wrong?" Amy's father said.

* * *

"A fair rumble. That's what you said, yeah?" Sonic called as both groups met. Illuminated by the lights of the southern end of Burgertopia, Sonic was the picture of graveness. He knew the depth of the situation - if he won, he'd live to fight another day. But these upper-class fellas only had to win once. They had law enforcement on their side, however tacitly, and even if they killed someone from Sonic's gang, they'd get off scot-free.

"That's right. We play nice around here, right boys?" The tallest of the opposition grinned, smoothing his hair back.

That was when the second car showed up. "That sounds awfully fishy in light of recent events," Rotor spat.

"Aw, whaddaya mean? We'll go easy on ya."

Sonic's eyes narrowed and he stepped forward. "So you wanna have a little fun, huh?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"You and me. Winner takes all."

"Hmm...Boys, stand down. I accept."

* * *

The knife came out when Sonic landed a blow to the guy's face. Apparently, it was meant to be a fair fight until his face got bruised. Sonic wasn't in the mood for jokes, however.

Sonic's normally cocky grin petered out into a hard line as he remembered what Silver had said. "Not your usual self, huh?" his opponent taunted, and dashed toward him.

Sonic tried to sidestep cheekily, but the other guy had a different plan. He grabbed Sonic and pulled him towards himself, knife glinting under the street light. Sonic's insides froze.

If someone had to die tonight, then it was better him than someone else. But God, he didn't want to die.

Intense pain shot through his left side.

* * *

Blaze rounded the corner, relaxed. Although she was normally not a fan of the cold, the feeling of gliding over the ice rink was too good to pass up.

She gave a half-smile as a child slipped and fell, looking to her mother to help her up.

Then the mother fell, too. Blaze's eyebrows knitted.

Then someone screamed, and Blaze understood what was going on. That was because someone shouted, "He's got a gun!"


	9. With One Stone

Sonic couldn't feel his arm.

The wolf he was fighting smiled a toothy grin. "Feel good? Feel like a needle? Want some more, greaser?"

Normally, Sonic would have a quick comeback. But the pain he was in nearly prevented him from even speaking. He saw the wolf's arm raise and he made a halfhearted attempt to escape. But the wolf's grip only tightened. The knife plunged.

Sonic felt the air go out of his lungs as something barreled into his back.

"Antoine!" he heard Rotor yell. Sonic was on the ground, completely oblivious to what had just happened as he tried to suck in a breath. Manic was vaulting over him, someone had fallen, no, two people…

Rotor was pulling him up. Sonic could see a bit more clearly now. He sucked in a staggering breath.

That was when he realized what had just happened.

Antoine was on the ground. The asphalt under him was rife with red. The knife that had done the deed had clattered to the ground. Manic had the wolf on the ground, pummeling him with every ounce of strength he had.

"'Twan…" Sonic mumbled. Then another piercing noise invaded his ears. The sirens of a police car.

"Cops!" someone, not from Sonic's gang, hissed. A couple of them pushed Manic away and hauled their buddy out. The alley was clear in seconds, apart from a facedown Antoine.

"Check if 'Twan's okay," Rotor urged.

Manic's snarl turned to a look of fear and apprehension. He knelt at Antoine's side, trying to get a pulse. "He's alive," he grunted. "But that does not look good at all."

"We need an ambulance," Sonic declared shakily, mostly to his senses.

"We can't pay for a hospital bill! We'll be arrested!" Manic countered.

"So someone spends a little time in the slammer. Or you feel like explaining Antoine here? We gotta go, the cops are gonna be here any minute."

* * *

Trash. Trash of the city, and trash from his office.

Tails hoisted his own trash out the door of his office/apartment, and let it fall into the can. A broken lightbulb clanked as its pieces hit the metal first.

He wrinkled his nose at the ensuing curses from the drunks. One of them raised a bottle of beer limply. Another paler one simply pulled a newspaper tighter around his body.

Wait.

Tails felt a jolt of realization hit him as he dug in his pocket for something. He procured a wallet-size photo of a silver hedgehog. He held it up to his eye. Then pulled it away, looking at the urchin in front of him.

He furrowed his brow and drew closer, kneeling down and tapping him on the shoulder. "Silver? Silver the hedgehog?"

Silver mumbled something incoherent and rolled over to face Tails. "Sonic…?"

Someone, or something, had done a number on this boy. A concerned Tails said, "I know him. Can you walk?"

"…gonna take me to Sonic?"

"Maybe." Tails grabbed Silver's arm and pulled him up. "At the very least, I can promise you another day alive."

* * *

"He looks bad," the driver said.

"No questions," Manic snapped.

"I'm only saying," he replied.

Sonic leaned his head against the window, trying to slow his thumping heart.

With Rotor holding Antoine, Sonic and Manic had managed to get out of the cops' sight. From there, they had banged on the first door they saw, in the hopes that someone would give them – or at least, Antoine – a ride to the hospital.

Luckily, their first mark had been a well-meaning bachelor who had been extremely accommodating. Honestly, Sonic was extremely sorry his first ride in such a nice car also coincided with Antoine bleeding his guts out.

"Here you are, boys. The hospital."

* * *

"Dear? What's wrong?" Amy's father asked.

Amy's mother looked mortified. "A friend of your boyfriend…Amy, dear, he's in the hospital."

Amy jumped up. "Where? Who?" she demanded instantly.

"I don't know who," her mother said quickly. "It's the hospital a mile away. I'll take you."

Amy's father looked ready to object, but seemed to realize the gravity of the situation. He sighed, and fell back into his seat. Amy rushed to the garage.

* * *

The skaters huddled against the walls of the rink as the gunman pointed his gun menacingly at the skate vendors. "I want one thousand dollars, cash, as fast as you can make it! Don't even think about pressing the alarm, or you'll be the first one to go!"

Blaze got up on her knees. The gunman was facing the other way, so she could safely get a good view of him. That voice sounded familiar…

"Well? What are you waiting for?" he demanded. The cashiers and vendors reached for the bills in their registers.

Blaze realized who it was with a start. It was Blake, the newt she had visited five days ago. But why? –

And she knew the answer to that before it was fully a thought in her mind. He had mentioned money troubles with his family before. She hadn't known it was this bad.

But she also knew that, regardless of who it was, he had to be stopped. She didn't know what impelled her, but she rose, removed her skates, and crawled towards Blake.

He was nervously eyeing the doorway as she left the ice and stepped onto the carpet. She was about five feet away.

Blake yelled, "Come on!" turning back towards the cashiers. Just as he did so, he noticed Blaze.

Blaze's heart caught in her throat. Stopped a little. For a second, nothing happened.

Then the doors burst open. Blaze saw a flash of blue as the cops rushed in. Blake and Blaze both realized someone had hit the alarm. Blake looked desperate.

He aimed at Blaze. Blaze's eyes widened.

Then closed as Blake pulled the trigger.


End file.
